Prime Minister's Assassination in Ceylon 1959

[ 1959 ]

In 1948, Ceylon (Sri Lanka) gained independence from Britain and dominion status in the British Commonwealth. Constant friction between the country's Buddhist Sinhalese majority and the Hindu Tamil minority, plus economic troubles and strife among the political parties, led to the 1959 assassination of Ceylon's Sinhalese prime minister, S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike (1899-1959), of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). His widow, Sirimavo Bandaranaike (1916-), became the SLFP's leader and later (1960) prime minister, creating a strongly leftist, pro-Sinhalese government opposed by both ends of the political and nationalistic spectrums.